AnimAlarm Texts You Before Your Dog Dies of Heatstroke in the Car

The people behind AnimAlarm probably have their hearts in the right place. That said, there are a few conceptual problems with their new product, designed to alert pet owners when the temperature around their pets starts to become unbearably high.

I say conceptual problems because the problem is leaving your pet in a hot car in the first place. If this alarm goes off, the act of having left a pet behind in the car is already unjustifiable. Generally speaking, people know when it’s a hot day. You don’t need an alarm to tell you that a pet, a hot day, and an enclosed car thrown together is always bad news, and that you should avoid that situation at all costs. The use of this device is tantamount to admitting your own irresponsibility in regards to your pet, and I’m not so sure that’s going to look good as a selling point.

There’s that, and then the concept behind the device itself – people leave pets in hot cars because they need to take care of things in places where pets can’t go. If the alarm goes off, what happens? The pet still can’t come with the owner, so you’re either going to have leave the pet in the car after the alarm goes off, or cut your trip to Target short and leave empty-handed. Neither seem reasonable, when you could just do what you need to do to avoid a dangerous situation completely.

Well, there’s that, and the news story waiting in the wings of the person who tries to use this thing for a kid instead of a pet. Bad news bears all around.